State of Salazar - 'Superhero'

Here’s a retro-review. It was actually my ‘audition’ for Rockfiend last year but was never published at the time. I was listening to this album the other day and it’s still my favourite AOR release of the last 18 months.

Scorchio! The second full-length release from State of Salazar is a welcome blast of endless Scandinavian Summer night sunshine that is guaranteed to leave you with a feel-good glow.

Opening track ‘If You Wait For Me’ encapsulates all you really need to know about this album. It starts with a dramatic keyboard intro before Marcus Nygren’s impassioned and expressive vocals kick in over a solid base of quality melodic playing and sublime vocal harmonies. The chorus is a gem and there’s even a classic ‘micro-pause and go’ moment at 3mins 30 secs leading into the ‘woah-oh’ outro. It’s great anthemic stuff and could easily be the theme tune to Top Gun 2 / Rocky 27 or whatever.

The rest of the album is a Peterik-esque song writing masterclass. The lyrical themes largely stick to the genre staples of love, loss and longing and that suits the material and mood perfectly. The quality of playing from the whole band shines on highlights like ‘She’s a Loaded Gun’ and especially ‘My Heart is at War’ with its beautifully crafted guitar solo.

All of the classic AOR boxes are ticked. There’s a girl’s name song - I don’t know who ‘Joanne’ is but she sounds interesting (‘no innocent bride’ and ‘a heart made of stone’). And of course there’s power ballads; the best one, ‘Lie to Me’ features theatrical guest vocals from Kristina Talajic.

But what really makes this album stand out for me is the deliciously ‘yachty’ feel running through it and that comes to the surface on songs like ‘Someone I Know’ and ‘Masquerade’. Malmo is on the West Coast of Sweden not America but these music school graduates have really captured the sunny vibe and the standard of craftsmanship you usually associate with some of California’s finest.

It's glorious stuff and I’ll still be humming these songs in November when it’s raining sideways.